Dear Whatcom County Planning Commission: I Am Writing Regarding

From: Sandy Robson To: PDS_Planning_Commission Subject: County Council’s proposed Cherry Point Amendments Date: Wednesday, September 11, 2019 5:48:42 PM Dear Whatcom County Planning Commission: I am writing regarding the County Council’s proposed Cherry Point Amendments which the Council forwarded to the Planning Commission, via Resolution 2019-037, that was approved on August 7, 2019. I want to voice my strong support for the County Council’s proposed Cherry Point Amendments to our County’s Comprehensive Plan and code. It is critical that we have the highest level protections for our air, water, as well as public health and safety. We can no longer delay or drag our feet on putting those permanent protections in place. The County Council has proposed amending Whatcom County code such that it would result in prohibiting new fossil fuel refineries and new industrial piers in the Cherry Point UGA. I believe it is vital that the Planning Commission recognizes the value and gravity of adding that specific language to our County code, and will then work to ensure that the proposed language prohibiting new fossil fuel refineries and new industrial piers, docks or wharfs in the Cherry Point UGA will be added to our County code. It is also very important, as is being currently proposed in the Council’s Cherry Point Amendments, to require new permits and conditions for "Changes of Use,” when existing terminals are repurposed, and to require expansion of existing refineries to meet conditions including mitigation of climate pollution. As you commissioners are continuing your work on the Cherry Point Amendments, I respectfully request that each of you take the time (a little over 3 minutes) to listen to this new song, “Kids In ‘99” by the band, Death Cab For Cutie. As you probably know, the band formed in 1997 during the time lead-singer Ben Gibbard and the other band members were attending WWU. Here is a link to the video for “Kids In ‘99”: https://youtu.be/qduFAr9b7uc In an online article published on July 30, 2019, RollingStone.com reported: “On June 10th, 1999, a gas pipeline operated by the Olympic Pipeline Company exploded in Bellingham, Washington’s Whatcom Falls Park, injuring eight people and killing three children, aged 10 to 18, who were fishing and playing in the area. Frontman Ben Gibbard describes the scene over a rolling drumbeat and textural guitar, gingerly singing, ‘Gone, gone’ in the chorus as he laments their deaths. “‘The Olympic Pipeline explosion in 1999 was a tragedy that really affected me while we were living in Bellingham,’ Gibbard said in a statement. ‘After all these years I felt it was worthy of its own folk song.’” Here is a link to the RollingStone.com article: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/death-cab-for-cutie-kids-in-99- 865125/ As most people in Whatcom County know, the terrible Olympic pipeline incident at Whatcom Falls Park in 1999 resulted when the Olympic pipeline ruptured and released approx. 237,000 gallons of gasoline which eventually ignited and burned approximately one and a half miles along a creek that flows through Whatcom Falls Park. Not only did two 10-year-old boys and an eighteen-year-old boy who were at that park that day die as a result of the incident, but also, there were eight additional people who sustained minor inhalation injuries who transported themselves to the hospital. I really don't know what word to use for what occurred that day. To call it an "accident" could imply it was unavoidable, which is not the case. To call it a "disaster" could imply it was some kind of natural catastrophe, which is not the case. Whatever we call it, it was horrible and tragic. I ask that you please think carefully about the very real, serious dangers of oil and gas pipelines and other fossil fuel operations currently ongoing in the Cherry Point UGA and Whatcom County, as well as proposed fossil fuel projects in the Cherry Point UGA and Whatcom County. And after you think carefully about those very real, serious dangers, I ask that you act and vote as County legislators such that you put in place the strongest protections possible in our County’s policies, codes and regulations to protect public safety and the future health of humans and our environment. Death Cab for Cutie “Kids in ’99” Lyrics (Source songtexte.co) Been thinkin' 'bout those kids Been thinkin' 'bout those kids back in '99 The gas leakin' in the creek A fire cracker then a spark In a moment they were Gone, gone Gone, gone House shaken by the blast Black smoke filled the wind of the landscape The sirens crying through the streets Choppers hovering like vultures above a meal Gone, gone Gone, gone Gone, gone Gone, gone In the waters where we used to swim Where we thought we would be young forever But beads that glisten on your sunburnt skin Evaporated in the flames and embers Been thinkin' 'bout those kids Been thinkin' 'bout those kids back in '99 Wonder who they were then Not a spark then a flash In a moment they were Gone, gone Gone, gone Gone, gone Gone, gone Gone, gone Gone, gone Thank you for considering my comment. Regards, Sandy Robson.

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